[jwblase]

I am the yearbook sponsor at the high school where I work. We're looking at going digital next year for our book. Before the decision is made (and I am by no means the final decider on this isue), there is some info I'm trying to get at without bias from publishing companies.

1) Is digital photography easier to learn than standard photographic methods?
Keep in mind that we do not do our own developing or printing at the school. We don't have the facilities, and have all our film developed at K-Mart. I am an English teacher, not a photography teacher. I just happen to also be a tech nut.

2) In the long term, is digital photography any less expensive than standard photographic methods?
As stated above, we have to outsource all our developing as it is, but are there any other costs that we could save on by going digital?

3) What are the publishing advantages of using digital photography as compared to standard photographic methods?
Is creating layout any easier using digital photography?

4) Are there any grants or programs to help a school get started using digital photography?
Our school is very extremely tight with money, it's not even funny. If possible, we would like a grant that specializes for this kind of thing.

If anyone has any information that may be able to help us out, it would really help.

Thanks all,

JB

[godzookie2k]

Originally posted by jwblase:
[QB]I am the yearbook sponsor at the high school where I work. We're<snip>

1) Is digital photography easier to learn than standard photographic methods?

Depends how high end you are talking about. On high end digitals you can factor in f-stops, shutterspeed, etc. If you know jack shite about photography, this means diddly squat. It depends how high end you plan on going. Photography is always a nice skill to have.

2) In the long term, is digital photography any less expensive than standard photographic methods?

Cheaper? yes. As high a quality? Thats a matter of opinion. You save on film, developing and time with digital. You sacrifice quality, lens options (super wide angle, tele photo, fish eye, etc)

3) What are the publishing advantages of using digital photography as compared to standard photographic methods?
Is creating layout any easier using digital photography?

As you can see, I'm very partial to traditional photo, but considering your budget I'd think that digital would be the way to go. Making layouts with photos digital or film, once its in the computer, its all you.

4) Are there any grants or programs to help a school get started using digital photography?

Not a clue.

Nick

[andi*pandi]

1) Is digital photography easier to learn than standard

Somewhat easier. However, you do have to have your photos adjusted, cleaned up, so someone needs to learn photoshop. See below.

2) In the long term, is digital photography any less expensive

Agree with Nick, but go further:

Digiphoto Saves: developing costs, time for developing, scanning costs, time for scanning... etc.

But you will need to have someone learn how to do simple photoediting, and if no one can learn, you might have to pay your printer/service bureau to do that. They might already be doing it for you. As you can't just scan a photo and print it (it needs to be adjusted for press, color, etc.) you also can't just snap a digishot and expect it to print well. Some digicams have a green cast, some make white people pink, etc. Even if your newspaper is black and white, there are adjustments to be made.

3) What are the publishing advantages of using digital photography as

I don't know how you're doing your layouts now, but if you are using computers for layout, you want digital photos, either scanned or by digital camera. If you're not doing the scanning, your printer must have been doing it, because NO ONE uses old-school stat cameras anymore... right?!?

Anyway: Advantages: digipix saves you time in scanning, cost of scanning. the cost to touch up a photo is cheaper than a scan. Ease of layout faster once you have digital. Also creativity is easier with digital.


4) Are there any grants or programs
doubtful.

[er1c]

( I am at school, writing in a hurry, please excuse the brevity of my reply )

I am the faculty head for a middle school yearbook team. I say yes, digital is easier. Digital cameras provide immediate feedback. Is the image usable or not? Do I need to take another one? And there are free/inexpensive image manipulation applications to color correct etc.

Cost? How many rolls of film are you buying and processing? How many images are functional out of the batch, generally? Digital images can be saved to hard drive and only printed when required.

Publishing, printing, in digital realm is much much easier. You can change everything in your layout and still return to a saved layout, i.e. an earlier version; try that with cut and paste layout!

Digital cameras can save images in various file types and may be imported into page layout applications. I like Adobe Indesign but Pagemaker is good too. Some like Quark, I do not.

This is how things are done now, electronically. Students who are familiar with up to date processes in photography and publishing have a real advantage in the workplace.

Good luck, feel free to ask any questions, I will help if I can.

[ 12-20-2001: Message edited by: er1c ]

[jwblase]

Thanks for the info, everybody! I'm personally familiar somewhat with photoshop, and we have photoshop LE included on the disk with Pagemaker that we own. Now, if I can convince the school to switch to new macs instead of using the refurbished PCs we have now, we'll be in business big time!

This really helped my position. It's good to know there's more than a bunch of bitchin' going on in the forums nowadays.

JB

[waffffffle]

I take it you folks either use Jostens or Herff Jones to publish your books right? You better check with your representatives about going digital first. If they're not ready to support you then you're going to have big trouble. I worked with Jostens when I was in high school and they had strict rules about what you can and cannot do. You better make sure they're going to publish what you send them.

However if you have good enough hardware, digital seems like a good idea. I never did it, but it definitely would have been nice. If you're using old PCs, its not a good idea, but even the cheapest iMacs nowadays (I think $699 for education) are powerful enough to do the image processing you need. Although I'm not too sure if PageMaker can handle it. I used PageMaker 5.5, but even 7.0 is not that advanced of an application. If you plan on pasting digital photos right into PageMaker I'd be cautious. Ask your reps. They *SHOULD* know more about this than I do.

Good luck.